Observed change of nature chemistry a molecule reacts with oxygen

See step by step how to change a single molecule when it reacts with oxygen is now possible. An international team which has participated the Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas (Csic)It has developed a system that allows you to observe this process in a liquid medium and identify up to six different States during the reaction. The study, published in the journal Nature Chemistry, opens the door to discover new chemical processes and better understanding between the molecules reactivity.

"Until now was only possible to observe the details of this process solution sets of millions of molecules. The system that we have developed allows, using scanning tunneling microscopy, follow those changes molecule by molecule and see how changes its State and reactions products are distributed over the surface of the solid in the liquid medium. "Allow even record those changes in video", explains the researcher at the Csic David Amabilino, of the Materials Science Institute of Barcelona.

The research shows how the surface acts as a support so that the molecule participates in the activation of chemical processes, and also helps to understand the oxygen-related reactions that take place in similar molecules in the human body. "We prepare a molecule capable of attaching to the graphite and exist in different States of oxidation, i.e. more or less electrons, and we saw how changing their States, the speed at which did and even managed to capture the molecule immediately before and after the breakdown of the oxygen molecules", concludes the researcher.